Suu Kyi ‘unlikely’ to receive fair trial in Myanmar: HRW
Bangkok, Jun 14 (EFE).- The rights organization Human Rights Watch said it’s “unlikely” the trial that begins Monday in Myanmar against deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi is fair and demanded her “immediate and unconditional release.”
Phil Robertson, the organization’s deputy director in Asia, criticized in a statement Suu Kyi’s restrictions on having access to her lawyers and the trial taking place in the capital, Naypyitaw, in a court controlled by the junta, by which she “is unlikely to receive a fair trial.”
“The criminal charges against Aung San Suu Kyi are false and politically motivated to overturn her landslide electoral victory in the November 2020 elections and prevent her from running again. All of those charges should be dropped, leading to her immediate and unconditional release,” he said.
Suu Kyi, 75, who spent more than 15 years under house arrest under the previous military junta, will stand trial alongside former President Win Myint and former Naypyitaw Governor Myo Aung.
The deposed leader faces two charges for violating the Natural Disasters law, linked to security regulations established to combat the spread of Covid-19, with a maximum sentence of three years.
She is also charged with one count for incitement to public agitation (punishable by up to three years in prison), illegal importation of electronic devices — in reference to about 10 walkie-talkies — and violating the Telecommunications Law.
For Robertson, the board gives “every indication that this is just the beginning and will continue to accumulate additional cases against Suu Kyi to keep her locked up” within a strategy to “neutralize Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy.” so that they cannot challenge the military regime in the future.
The Myanmar Army justifies the coup on alleged electoral fraud in November’s elections, in which Suu Kyi’s party won a landslide victory, as it did in 2015, and which were considered legitimate by international observers. EFE
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